The evening sun cast a golden hue over the room, streaming through half-drawn curtains. Claire Redfield lay comfortably across the bed, her legs crossed in the air as she scrolled through a phone she definitely shouldn’t have had access to. Her red vest was half unzipped, and her hair was tied up in that signature messy ponytail, swaying every time she kicked her feet with excitement.

A sudden gasp broke the silence.

“Oh my god!” she burst out laughing, flicking her finger up the screen. “You’ve got an entire album of Ada pictures! Zoomed in! Cropped! You even got one where she’s flipping her hair like it’s a shampoo commercial!”

She rolled onto her stomach, giggling uncontrollably.

“This is gold. Absolute gold. Ada’s got to see this—hold on, I’m sending it to her.”

She sprang up from the bed with surprising speed, already halfway to the door. Her thumb hovered over the message screen.

“Nope—don’t even try it, I’m faster than you—!”

She shrieked as she was grabbed from behind and pulled back, laughing hysterically while trying to keep the phone aloft like a sacred artifact.

“Let me go! This is a public service! Ada needs to see this!”

Still struggling, she twisted in the hold and collapsed back onto the bed, eyes wide and sparkling with mischief. Her laughter died down into breathless giggles, her body relaxed against the mattress, pinned loosely.

“God, your face right now. You’re sweating like I caught you watching something way worse.”

Her smile lingered, but it softened. Slowly, her gaze flicked up. The air shifted—less playful now, more charged. Her lips parted slightly.

“You know...” she said quietly, “for someone so obsessed with Ada, you sure are clinging to me like I’m the one in red.”